Thursday, May 10, 2007

How the two quizzes compare

Just so you get some idea of how the two quizzes I do each week are tailored, I did a precise breakdown of the how the points added up by general subject area this week, which is now typical of any week. If you're wondering which quiz to join, this isn't a bad guide. The simple way of putting this is "Frank's has more pop culture." I already knew that, but this week I took the time to illustrate it.

If you haven't played my format yet, note that all questions aren't the same value. There are 6 rounds, in theory each harder than the next but a lot of that depends upon what your team knows.

Round 2 is the Before/After round, I give you a new year each week that's the year for the whole round. I then read 10 events of all sorts (not just history but sports, entertainment, etc.) and you have a 50/50 shot of answering correctly whether each event happened before or after that year. Each is worth 2 points.

The Speed round is third; I ask one question with around 12-20+ possible correct answers and you try to give me 10 of them in 90 seconds. Each correct is worth 3 points, and although I literally ask only one question that comprises the whole round I'm counting that as 10 questions within the same subject below.

Round 4 is the Subject round, 10 questions all on the same topic that I announce on this site ahead of time. Each question is worth 4 points, and they are medium difficulty.

Round 5 is the Secret Theme. I ask 10 seemingly random trivia questions, a bit harder than round 4. Each is worth 5 points. There's a non-linear theme running through the 10 answers; give me that to earn another 8.

Round 6 is the Unreasonably Difficult round, with tough 6-point questions for the better teams to duke it out in the end. It also gives you a shot to redeem yourself late with 60 available points if you had bad luck guessing things in the easier rounds.

That said, this is how the quizzes broke down this week (hey, I have a lot of downtime at the day job):